The European Union (EU) has not hesitated in making known its criticisms of the State of Israel and its suggestions for boycotts against some Israeli products. Recently, the EU agency for combating racism has been unable to define the term “anti-Semitism” and has removed the working definition it adopted in 2005. By contrast, the EU has turned a blind eye to the fact that it has knowingly been paying Palestinians for not working.

This information is revealed in a sober special report, no. 14, of the European Union’s Court of Auditors published on December 11, 2013. This special report covers the detailed story of the EU’s financial support, including direct support, to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that since 1994 has amounted to more than 5.6 billion euros.

The EU supports public services for the benefit of the Palestinian population, but the payment of non-performing civil servants does not serve this objective. About 24% of those on the payroll of PA health and education ministries, some 60,000 people, are paid but not working. They stopped reporting to their jobs when Hamas seized power in Gaza.

The new December report outlines the financial assistance given by the EU. An interim association agreement on trade and cooperation had been signed in 1997 between the then-European community and the PLO on behalf of the PA. Between 1994 and 2006, more than 2.7 billion euros were given to the Palestinians from the EU’s general budget

Another agreement was signed in 2005 between the EU and the Palestinians to support the political and economic reform agenda over the next few years. Between 2007 and 2012, a further 2.9 billion euros was given from the EU’s general budget.

EU funding has increasingly come from the PEGASE (the French acronym for European-Palestinian Management and Socio-Economic Help), the mechanism launched in 2008 to support the Palestinian Authority, officially to help it until the overall political objective of a two-state solution is achieved. It is the main instrument used by the EU to provide financial assistance directly from the EU budget.

The PEGASE Direct Financial Support (DFS) program, intended to meet recurring expenditures and give support to private-sector businesses, has provided about 1 billion euros in funding to the PA from 2008 to 2012. This is more than 10% of the PA’s annual revenue and has been an important aid in keeping the PA’s budget deficit down. That overall budget deficit is $1.7 billion, or 17% of GDP.

In addition, more than 1.3 billion euros was given from DFS. The EU is the largest donor to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), having provided 789 million euros to support it.

The DFS funding resulted from the crisis caused by the temporary suspension of aid to the PA after the Hamas victory in January 2006. A temporary international mechanism (TIM) was set up to ensure direct assistance to the Palestinian population, thus enabling the EU to bypass the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip. Since 2008, the TIM has been replaced by the PEGASE mechanism.

The EU helps the PA meet its obligations to civil servants, pensioners, and vulnerable families; maintain essential public services; and improve public finances. Part of the present problem is the number supported as part of “vulnerable families,” those living in extreme poverty in the West Bank and Gaza, which has increased from 44,000 in 2008 to 60,000 in 2012.

The PEGASE program provides support for Palestinian development, for delivery of public services, and for essential services such as fuel to the Gaza power plant to ensure sufficient electricity to people living in Gaza, a supply that has cost 183 million euros. In a variety of ways, the EU has supported the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem, which it argues should be the capital of a Palestinian state. In addition, the EU provides some financial support for businesses destroyed or damaged during the Israeli “Operation Cast Lead” in 2008 to stop Hamas rockets attacking Israel. About 22 million euros were given to 915 companies.

Criticism of the Palestinians is made politely in the report, but it is clear. The financial relationship is increasingly in “need of an overhaul,” notably in relation to its civil service. There has been little or no review of public service grades or pay scales. The report questions whether the PEGASE DFS aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has been shown to be incompetent and perhaps corrupt with its finances, can now be sustained.

As a bow to political correctness, the report suggests that the continuing restrictions by Israel on the PA help cause overall fiscal difficulties, and that a way needs to be found to bring Israel to take the necessary steps to ensure that PEGASE DFS is effective. But the evidence of the report itself shows that Israel’s actions have little to do with the plight of the Palestinians. A major reason for this is that the number of Palestinian beneficiaries has been increasing while funding by outside donors has been decreasing. Even the EU has decreased its support from 524 million euros in 2011 to 358 million in 2012.

Despite the large amount of money provided by the EU, the PA faced a severe budget deficit in 2012, which led to public finance management problems. The delay in payment of salaries by the PA led to demonstrations and strikes among civil servants in September 2012.

The EU publicly supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and envisages the creation of a viable, contiguous, and democratic Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel in peace and security. It recognizes some of the events that have set back the peace process. The first occurred in January 2006, when Hamas defeated the Fatah party in the Palestinian parliamentary elections. The EU understood that Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and indeed classifies it as a terrorist organization.

The de facto division of Palestinians occurred when fighting broke out between Fatah and Hamas in June 2007, and Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. The EU does not have a contract with Hamas, but it does try to help the Gaza population. It would do even more by calling on Hamas to stop its terrorist activity and enter into negotiations with and officially recognize the State of Israel.

The publicity material shows the tagline on top of photographs of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Prime Minister Ismayil Haniyeh behind bars.After the United Nations upgraded its status to non-member observer state in late November, the Palestinian Authority hinted its intentions to sue Israelis for alleged war crimes at the ICC in The Hague.Though recent attempts to revive the peace process appear to have halted these efforts, Shurat HaDin started preparing thousands of cases against the Palestinian Authority and its leaders.“We call on all Israeli citizens who were harmed in terror attacks to testify through our Facebook page and tell their traumatic experiences,” the organization’s chairwoman Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner explained.Shurat HaDin, founded in 2002, is an Israeli civil rights non-governmental organization aimed at using litigations against groups it alleges are terror organizations.So far the NGO won cases to the sum of over a billion US dollars, of which over $120 million were collected.On 2012 the organization aided in the thwarting of a Gaza bound flotilla and is currently involved in the campaign against the BDS movement.“Our aim is to prevent this move (suing soldiers) by the Palestinian Authority,” said Darshan-Leitner.“We’ve realized that when the Palestinian Authority is accepted into the ICC, it becomes exposed to lawsuits as well. “We’ve received dozens of terror victims’ testimonies, from relatively ‘light’ stories to truly shocking ones,” she said.“I’m certain anyone who hears about the campaign will know at least one victim and encourage them to turn to us.“They are starting a war against our soldiers, and we’ll do everything we can to defend them,” Darshan-Leitner said.

(Carl) The ‘Palestinian Authority’ has told Qatar to butt out of its ‘unity talks’ with Hamas.Less than a week after Qatar promised the ‘Palestinian Authority’ $1 billion to stop the ‘Judaizing’ of Jerusalem, the ‘Palestinian Authority’ has told Qatar to butt out of its ‘unity talks’ with Hamas. A senior member of Palestinian movement Fatah described a Qatari call for new reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo as “suspicious and unnecessary,” Egypt’s state-run news agency MENA reported on Sunday. Hamas has reportedly welcomed the offer of talks. Azzam Al-Ahmed, a member of Fatah’s central committee who is in charge of reconciliation efforts at Fatah, said that the reconciliation process with Hamas is moving forward through a “specified timetable.” “Too much discussion about this issue is a waste of time; we are very optimistic about the reconciliation process as we are in constant contact with Egyptian officials,” Al-Ahmed said. The Fatah leader said he expected that talks with Hamas over a national government would take place at the same time as discussions over the updating of the voter registration list. “We might just need 24 hours for government talks; President Mahmoud Abbas said before that he would issue two decrees, one calling for elections and other on the formation of a new government,” he said. At their first meeting in almost a year, Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal agreed in January to revive a stalled reconciliation deal between the rival Palestinian factions. This happened less than a week after Qatar promised the ‘Palestinian Authority’ $1 billion to stop the ‘Judaizing’ of Jerusalem,

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has decided to allow the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority, which is ruled by Fatah.The Prime Minister’s Office said that the decision was reached with the consent of the ministers who sit on the diplomatic-security cabinet. Treasury Minister Yair Lapid will instruct his ministry to transfer the funds to the PA.The funds, from customs collected by Israel on behalf of the PA, were frozen after the PA made a unilateral move in the UN, gaining recognition as a non-member observer state.The last transfer of funds from Israel to the PA was made in late November, just two days before the PA’s UN move.

the President has his priorities straight? The ‘sequester’ is cutting control towers at 149 airports, but priorities man, priorities. The ‘Palestinian Authority’ really needs their aid money for those terrorist salaries.

(h/t OTHER) HUSSEIN Obama ‘admin’ unblocks frozen funds so Palestinian Authority can receive $500mn in aid.(RT).The US has unblocked almost $500 million in aid to the Palestinian Authority as it faces its worst economic crisis in years. The move comes months after Congress froze Palestinian aid in response to its bid for non-member observer status at the UN.“To date, we have moved $295.7 million in fiscal year 2012 money…and $200 million in fiscal year 2013 assistance,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.The first sum comprises around $195.7 million, allocated under the 2012 fiscal year budget for US Agency for International Development (USAID) economic, development and humanitarian assistance, as well as a further $100 million allocated to narcotics control.The second sum of $200 million will come under the 2013 budget and be spent for direct budget support.The news was announced after US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a visit to Israel and the West Bank earlier this week. It was Obama’s first trip to the region since taking office in 2009.During a meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Thursday, Obama reportedly asked the leader to refrain from turning to the International Criminal Court.“for any reason,” including settlement expansion, the Times of Israel reported.Abbas previously stated that he would turn to the court if Israel began to build in the controversial E1 corridor that connects East Jerusalem with the West Bank settlement of Maaleh Adumim, but would wait two months before doing so, London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported.Israel announced its plans to build in the area after Abbas’ move for a UN status upgrade.

QUESTION: Can I ask on Palestinian aid? There’s reporting out of the region that the funds have actually been unblocked kind of a bit quietly over the last couple of weeks, the 200 million that was held up in Congress, and that’s now been received by the Palestinian Authority.

MS. NULAND: Jo, I don’t – I’m just finding it here. I did go through this about a week ago in some detail. I can do it again for you. To date, we have moved $295.7 million in Fiscal Year 2012 money, 200 million of that – see, this – numbers don’t – oh, and 200 million in Fiscal Year 2013 assistance. So breaking that down again, 200 million in FY2013 ESF money was direct budget support for the Palestinian Authority; 195.7 million in FY12 Economic Support money went for development and humanitarian assistance implemented by USAID; 100 million in FY2012 for International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement; and then in February – at the end of February we notified Congress about another 200 million that we’d like to move.

QUESTION: So you’ve moved the 295 —

MS. NULAND: Total of 295.7 in FY12 and 200 in FY13. Why don’t we go through it again afterwards if you need to?

There is a report making the rounds that unnamed “Israeli sources” claim that Barack Obama will shortly “demand a timetable for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank,” presumably in return for the US dealing with Iran. A 2014 deadline to establish a Palestinian state is mentioned.

Things like this surface all the time, and mostly they are simply nonsense. It is irresponsible for a journalist, or even a blogger, to publish what is essentially a rumor based on a single report which does not even include a source.

And yet…

There are certainly people in the White House who would think this is a good idea. Everyone knows, they would say, that only details prevent a two-state solution, and the main obstacle to moving forward is right-wing influence on the Israeli PM. Here’s an opportunity, they are saying, let’s take it.

The simple reason that there can be no two-state solution is that it entails the acceptance by the Palestinians of the continued existence of the Jewish state west of the Green Line, and that contradicts the essence of the Palestinian national project. Indeed, one could — I would — go so far as to say that Arabs who would accept a peaceful state alongside Israel as a permanent goal could not properly be called ‘Palestinians’, since the very definition of a ‘Palestinian people’ negates Zionism (but perhaps I digress).

Dennis Ross, who knows as much about ‘peace processing’ as anyone, recently put forward a 14-point plan to bring about a two-state solution. It illustrates two things: one, that Ross possesses a paradoxical combination of intelligence, experience and the inability to see his nose in front of his face; and two, that the concessions it would require from the Palestinians are, as I said above, unthinkable.

Regardless, while a ‘solution’ — that is, an agreement that ends the conflict — is impossible, a coerced Israeli withdrawal in the context of an agreement that pretends to end the conflict is. And that is the danger.

Whether those who would like to force a withdrawal cynically understand that it would be disastrous for Israel’s security and don’t care (or welcome such a disaster), or whether they actually believe it would be a step toward peace is not important. What is important is that they might be able to sell the idea to a public — particularly liberal Jews — that to a great extent continues to believe in the two-state idea. And if they don’t object strongly enough, how could it be stopped?

The confirmation of Chuck Hagel, and particularly the collapse of Sen. Charles Schumer should be instructive. When push comes to shove, today’s liberals — even “strong supporters of Israel” like Schumer are Obama supporters first.

There is another aspect of the situation. That is that the combination of a blow against Iran with a blow against Israel would be a win-win for Sunni Muslim interests in the Middle East: the Saudis, the Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey would all like to see Iran defanged and Israel weakened vis-a-vis the Palestinians. Interestingly, Islamist Turkey, the Brotherhood and the Saudis seem to be the people that President Obama finds the most congenial in the region.

Everything seems to be lining up to their advantage. Israel withdraws, the US bombs Iran, Hizballah responds by attacking Israel. Sunni forces, in particular those supported by Turkey, take advantage of the chaos (and the preoccupation of Hizballah) to finish off Assad and take control of Syria. Although the US will support the Palestinian Authority for a time, Hamas — don’t forget, it is the Palestinian branch of the Brotherhood — will soon get control of Judea and Samaria one way or another.

There are other unpleasant possibilities — US-led UN or NATO troops in Judea/Samaria to ‘protect’ the peace agreement, which will end up protecting Palestinian terrorists against Israel, even the possibility of the IDF and Americans shooting at each other. Sound impossible? Chuck Hagel thought it was a good idea, as did Samantha Power, Obama’s “Senior Director of Multilateral Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council.

So, yes, the rumor about a planned offer that Israel can’t refuse is only a rumor. But it could be a true rumor. We’ll find out very shortly.

How compromised is the American legal system? This compromised. “US judge backs Palestinian Authority’s bid to conceal memo linking it to 2002 Israel bombing,” by Bruce Golding for the New York Post, January 14 (thanks to Jihadwatch):

A US judge has ruled that the Palestinian Authority has the right to cover up a memo linking it to a suicide bombing that killed two teen American citizens in Israel, The Post has learned. The document — accidentally handed over to lawyers suing the authority for $300 million on behalf of the teens’ parents — reveals a “close relationship” between the bomber and a captain in the Palestinian Authority security forces who planned the terror attack, court papers say.The two-page memo, written in April 2012 by Maj. Ziad Abu Hamid of the authority’s General Intelligence Service, also details “at least six other critical facts” about the 2002 bombing and “clearly establishes the defendants’ material support and liability,” the federal court filing says.But Washington, DC, federal Judge Richard Leon ordered the memo returned or destroyed after the authority’s lawyers claimed it was “privileged and protected” information.Scott Shatsky, 60, the Brooklyn-born father of one victim, called the decision “incomprehensible.”“It makes me feel that justice is not being done,” the Brighton Beach native said. “Maybe I’m missing something, but to me it’s just outrageous.”…